TexMessage: Sen. Ted Cruz says farm bill is bad for Texas

Good morning, TexMessagers! Will the Senate farm bill have a strong effect on Texas agriculture?

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The farm bill easily passed the Senate, but Sen. Ted Cruz fears it could hurt Texas farmers and the state’s booming economy.

Formally known as the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, the farm bill was approved in a 66-27 vote on Monday. The bill would cut $24 billion from farm spending over a period of 10 years and would reduce the food stamp program by $4 billion.

If the bill passes in the House, farmers could face financial changes that would substantially influence their business. Instead of direct payment to farmers, the Senate farm bill would change subsidies to expand crop insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, direct spending from the program is estimated to cost $955 billion over the 2014-2023 period.

Cruz released a statement expressing his disappointment with the legislation:

Agriculture forms the backbone of the Texas economy and is an integral part of our proud heritage, as it is for the rest of the nation. Unfortunately, the current farm bill gives far less attention to the needs of farmers than it does to politicians and special interests. For an issue as critical to our nation’s safety and American livelihoods as ensuring a reliable food supply, I am disappointed that Washington’s cynical politics have again trumped any real reform.

Any meaningful support for farmers and ranchers in this trillion-dollar bill is unnecessarily held hostage to the unchecked growth of food stamp entitlements and numerous other programs unrelated to farming. This farm bill costs 60 percent more than the 2008 bill. Nearly 80 percent of it consists of a massive expansion in food stamps, trapping millions in long-term dependency. It fails to provide a true safety net for farmers in difficult years, fails to fully target assistance to those most in need, subsidizes massive agri-businesses, and fails to prioritize farm aid over duplicative programs, promoting unrelated programs from green energy to housing.

We should address the true needs of American farmers, but the bill considered by the Senate does considerably more harm than good. I hope our House colleagues will include needed reforms that the Senate omitted in its flawed consideration of this important issue.

Similar bills have gone through Congress on multiple occasions but have failed to win final approval. Sens. John Cornyn and Cruz both voted against the current farm bill. The House version of the bill would reduce the food stamp program by an even larger amount.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated last year that this type of legislation is necessary to assist farming families:

Americans deserve a food, farm and jobs bill that reforms the safety net for producers in times of need, promotes the bio-based economy, conserves our natural resources, strengthens rural communities, promotes job growth in rural America, and supports food assistance to low-income families. Without the certainty of a multi-year bill, rural communities are being asked to shoulder undue burdens.

“He said the ‘bill before the Senate is not the bill I would have drafted,’ but it’s ‘time for us to stop voting ‘maybe.'” When you are dealing with people’s lives and the welfare of an entire country, you need to make sure you’re doing the right thing. Would you want your doctor calling you in for a heart transplant just because he hasn’t had a surgery in a while?”

Today:

★The House Budget Committee has a hearing on The Department of Defense and the fiscal year 2014 budget.